1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display unit, and more particularly, to a liquid crystal display unit having a reflecting function.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern liquid crystal display units are used in various apparatuses, such as personal computers, TV sets, word processors, portable telephones, etc. While the range of application of the liquid crystal display units becomes wider and wider, there are increasing demands for reduction in their size, power consumption, and cost.
On the other hand, reflection-type liquid crystal display units have been developed. Since the liquid crystal display units of this type utilize outside light for image display, they require no internal light source such as a backlight. Accordingly, there is a possibility of the reflection-type liquid crystal display units meeting the aforesaid demands.
In these reflection-type liquid crystal display units, outside light is reflected by a reflector and optically modulated by means of a liquid crystal layer, whereby it is displayed as an image on a display screen. The brightness of the outside light, which depends on the installation environment of the display unit, is not so stable as that of the backlight. In order to display bright images, therefore, it is essential to minimize the attenuation of the intensity of the outside light. In particular, the reflecting properties of the reflector considerably influence the attenuation of the light intensity. Thus, optimization has been tried to obtain reflecting properties such that outside light beams incident at all angles can be reflected efficiently.